Bill Tracker

This is a bi-partisan bill which expands who can make a request for DNA testing to try to prove their innocence. Since a bill was passed in 2003 allowing for DNA testing, technology has advanced. The bill will expand testing to include persons who have already completed their prison time and persons on probation/parole. It will also allow for testing at private facilities. The Attorney General’s office supports the bill with the amendments passed at the committee hearing. Victims rights group helped draft the bill and all key stakeholders, which includes The Innocence Project, are in support of its’ passage.   

The bill was approved on a vote of 13-0 on January 31, 2023.

The House Judiciary Committee referred the bill, as amended, to the House Committee of the Whole. On February 6, 2023 the bill passed a second reading and on February 7, 2023 passed third House reading on a 62-0 vote. 

The League of Women Voters promotes social justice for all people.

Under current law, an incarcerated person can motion the court for
postconviction DNA testing to prove the person's actual innocence if
DNA testing was not available at the time of the person's prosecution.
The bill changes who can apply for postconviction DNA testing to
include a person convicted of or adjudicated not guilty by reason of
insanity for a felony offense in Colorado, including a person currently
incarcerated; a person on parole or probation for a felony offense; a
person subject to sex offender registration; or a person who has
completed the sentence imposed for the felony offense.
The bill allows an eligible person to apply for postconviction DNA
testing:
  • To show a reasonable probability that the person would not
have been convicted; or
  • If evidence was previously available and tested and the
evidence now can be subjected to additional DNA testing
that provides a reasonable likelihood of more probative
results.
The bill permits the court to order postconviction DNA testing if
there is a reasonable probability that the petitioner would not have been
convicted or would have received a lesser sentence if favorable results
had been obtained through DNA testing at the time of the original
prosecution.
The bill allows a court to consider a subsequent petition with new
or different grounds for relief if the court finds just cause or the interests
of justice so requires.
If the results of DNA testing are favorable to the petitioner, the
court shall schedule a hearing to determine appropriate relief to be
granted including, but not limited to, an order setting aside or vacating the
petitioner's conviction.

• February 15, 2023: Senate Judiciary Committee Report
• February 15, 2023: Senate Judiciary Committee Report
• January 31, 2023: HB23-1034 L.001 House Judiciary
• January 31, 2023: HB23-1034 L.002 House Judiciary
• January 31, 2023: HB23-1034 L.003 House Judiciary
• January 31, 2023: HB23-1034 L.004 House Judiciary
• January 31, 2023: House Judiciary Committee Report
• January 31, 2023: House Judiciary Committee Report

Under existing law, an inmate in the custody of the department of
corrections (department) may have earned time deducted from the
inmate's sentence for meeting certain statutory requirements. The bill
permits an inmate sentenced for a nonviolent felony offense to have
earned time deducted from the inmate's sentence for each accredited
degree or other credential awarded by an accredited institution of higher
education to the inmate while the inmate is incarcerated, in the following
amounts:
  • One year of earned time for receiving an associate,
baccalaureate, or graduate degree; and
  • 6 months of earned time for receiving a certificate or other
credential.
The bill requires the general assembly to annually appropriate the
savings incurred during the prior state fiscal year as a result of the release
of inmates from correctional facilities because of earned time granted for
completion of a higher education degree or credential, as follows:
  • 50% of the savings to the department of corrections to
facilitate inmates enrolling in and completing accredited
higher education programs; and
  • 50% of the savings to the department of higher education
for allocation to institutions of higher education that offer
accredited programs in correctional facilities.

• March 13, 2023: Senate Judiciary Committee Report
• March 13, 2023: Senate Judiciary Committee Report
• February 07, 2023: HB23-1037 L.003 House Judiciary
• February 07, 2023: House Judiciary Committee Report
• February 07, 2023: House Judiciary Committee Report

The bill requires the general assembly to annually appropriate, at
a minimum, the following amounts for crime victim services, in addition
to other statutorily required appropriations:
  • $3 million to the victims and witnesses assistance and law
enforcement fund for allocation to judicial districts;
  • $4.5 million to the state victims assistance and law
enforcement fund; and
  • $7.5 million to the state domestic violence and sexual
assault services fund for domestic violence, sexual assault,
or culturally specific programs.
The general assembly is permitted to appropriate less than $3
million to the victims and witnesses assistance and law enforcement fund
for allocation to judicial districts and instead appropriate that money to
the Colorado crime victim services fund or the state victims assistance
and law enforcement fund.
Under existing law, the Colorado crime victim services fund and
the state domestic violence and sexual assault services fund are scheduled
for repeal in 2027. The bill continues both funds indefinitely.

• May 02, 2023: Senate Appropriations Committee Report
• April 25, 2023: House Appropriations Committee Report
• March 01, 2023: House Judiciary Committee Report
• March 01, 2023: House Judiciary Committee Report

The bill will codify under Colorado law, what is known as a Miranda Advisement. Due to what some perceive to be an activist Supreme Court, and in line with many other states in the country, a codification of the rights stated in Miranda V Arizona, a case ruled on in 1966, is important to prophylactically enact. This bill will protect those rights enshrined in federal case law, and safeguarding those rights should the Supreme Court rule that either it is a states right issue, or that the right does not exist under federal case law. A recent case ruled on by the Supreme Court has signaled they may be moving in that direction. (The recent case cited in the hearing was called The Vega case. Should Miranda advisements go away as a matter of federal common law, our state will already be protected.  These are basic and fundamental rights under the constitution. The bill gives the same rights as in the Miranda advisement, no more and no less. Our state needs to be in the forefront of protecting fundamental civil rights.

LWVCO Supports this bill.

The bill requires that, for a statement made during a custodial
interrogation to be admissible against the accused in a criminal
proceeding, the accused must be advised of specified rights prior to
making the statement.

• April 24, 2023: Senate Judiciary Committee Report
• April 05, 2023: House Judiciary Committee Report
• April 05, 2023: House Judiciary Committee Report